College Football Week 13 Odds: Early Lines for Michigan vs. Ohio State, More
November 19, 2018
The Michigan Wolverines opened as 3.5-point favorites against the Ohio State Buckeyes ahead of Saturday's game in Columbus, Ohio, according to OddsShark.
In another game with conference championship implications, the Oklahoma Sooners are 2.5-point road favorites for their matchup with the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Michigan hasn't beaten Ohio State since Urban Meyer took over the Buckeyes in 2012. This could be the year Jim Harbaugh ends that drought.
Ohio State needed overtime to beat the Maryland Terrapins, who could've upset the Buckeyes had Tyrrell Pigrome thrown a better pass to Jeshaun Jones on Maryland's two-point conversion in OT. Giving up 535 points and 51 points to the Terps did little to ease the concern about the Buckeyes defense as well.
Michigan, meanwhile, has reeled off 10 wins in a row. The Indiana Hoosiers pushed the Wolverines hard on Saturday but slowly faded as Michigan's overall depth became too much to overcome.
Some have called 2018 a "revenge tour" for Harbaugh and the Wolverines, who dispatched of the Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan State Spartans and Penn State Nittany Lions earlier this season (three of the four Big Ten teams U-M lost to in 2017). Michigan should be able to complete its quest for vengeance with a win over Ohio State.
West Virginia might have been favored over Oklahoma prior to Saturday's 45-41 defeat to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The poor state of the respective defenses could be the great equalizer, though.
The Mountaineers rank 65th in S&P+ defensive rating, per Football Outsiders, with the Sooners even lower at 77th. Just as one could argue West Virginia will struggle to slow down Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma aerial attack, the same could be said of Will Grier matched up against the Sooners secondary.
Since the game is in Morgantown, West Virginia, the Mountaineers are a solid underdog pick.
Fans might want to stay away from the Apple Cup. The Washington State Cougars are three-point home favorites against the Washington Huskies in what's basically a tossup.
Washington has two fewer wins, but it ranked higher than its in-state rival in F/+ combined rating entering Week 12, according to Football Outsiders. The Huskies sat ninth, while the Cougars were 14th.
Although Washington has fallen short of expectations this season, it's more than capable of pulling off the upset in Pullman, Washington.
When it comes to the Iron Bowl, the question isn't really whether the Auburn Tigers will spring the upset on the Alabama Crimson Tide but more so about Alabama's ability to cover the 24.5-point spread.
Alabama was tied at 10 with The Citadel on Saturday before scoring 40 second-half points to cruise to a win.
The Tide may have fallen asleep a bit against weaker opposition, but they've generally answered the call in their biggest tests. Alabama defeated the LSU Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs by a combined score of 53-0 and beat the Texas A&M Aggies by 22 points in September.
The Crimson Tide won't take Auburn lightly. The Tigers will likely mount an early challenge before Alabama steadily opens up a wide gulf in the second half.